Central African Republic: Renewed clashes between anti-balaka and Seleka fighters occurred in several locations in central, northern, and southwestern provinces. MISCA soldiers are being redeployed to cover areas previously secured by the Chadian contingent. A Christian religious leader was killed and four were abducted in two northern towns, while 30 Christian civilians were reportedly killed in a central town.

WASHINGTON, April 15, 2014 – The World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors has approved US$150 million to finance 19 university-based Centers of Excellence in seven countries in West and Central Africa. These competitively selected centers will receive funding for advanced specialized studies in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM)-related disciplines, as well as in agriculture and health.

Syria: Violence is intensifying in Damascus, with increased attacks from both the Government and the opposition. In Aleppo, fighting between Syrian troops and opposition fighters is causing further casualties. In the east, infighting between rival opposition factions has led to a reinforcement of Iraqi troops’ positions on the Iraqi side of the border. To date, over nine million people are in need of assistance, and more than 2.6 million have fled the country. In early April, humanitarian assistance was allowed in besieged areas in Aleppo for the first time since June.

Between 15th and 22nd March, UNHCR replaced old food ration cards with new ones in all five Dadaab camps. Refugees who collected their food rations stopped by the UNHCR desks in food distribution centres to receive their new cards. 80,424 new ration cards were validated which means that 97% of all households in Dadaab now have a new card. The remaining 3% of households can approach the UNHCR field offices for their cards.

So much is said about future of cities and yet city planning is not done by those who have a long future: children. This is odd.

The 108th issue of Southasiadisaster.net is titled ‘Children in Urban Space: Making Child Friendly Cities’ highlights the concept of a ‘Child Friendly City’. This issue of Southasiadisasters.net outlines the key pre-requisites to make child friendly city by documenting the experiences and expertise of organizations and individuals that have strived towards this ideal. The content includes:

The MIMU 3W gathers inputs from participating humanitarian and development agencies on Who is doing What, Where, across Myanmar. This exercise is currently conducted every 6 months, gathering information on agencies’ activities at village/township level (MIMU Village level 3W) as well as in IDP camps (MIMU Camp 3W).

I am honored to be here with you today in support of the Kenya Union of Savings & Credit Co-operatives (KUSCCO), which is increasing access to cook stoves for Kenyan consumers through the “Jiko Safi” cook stove-specific credit facility.

Paris, 4 April 2014 - The Climate and Clean Air Coalition (CCAC) has agreed to expand actions in cleaner transport, alternative refrigeration, agriculture, municipal solid waste management and methane reduction in the oil and gas sector.

Citing recent data from the World Health Organization (WHO) showing that approximately 7 million people die each year because of indoor and outdoor air pollution, the Coalition also agreed to launch a worldwide campaign to raise awareness of the health effects of air pollution and to prompt action to mitigate its effects.

JOHANNESBURG, 4 April 2014 (IRIN) - Satellite and other new technologies could be deployed to help predict disease outbreaks and give us more time to devise strategies to counteract them, suggests the new Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report, which cites examples of how weather information can be used in the battle against deadly pathogens.

European Development Commissioner, Andris Piebalgs, will today announce new EU support of €2.5 billion for Latin America for the years 2014 to 2020 (including funding for regional programmes, and for the bilateral envelopes to the eligible countries).